[TUHS] Lexical comparator, was Re: the battle against SCO

[M. Warner Losh]

In message: <Pine.LNX.4.56.0309152131290.24213 at zen.canint.timetraveller.org>
            Robert Brockway <robert at timetraveller.org> writes:
: a) Code which is licenced in a manner incompatible with the GPL
: b) Code that the copyright holder did not authorise going into the kernel.

There's a lot of code that originated in the BSD world that had its
copyrights shorn off, a GPL splatted on and the mass hacking began.
Many of these are no longer recognizable from there original form, and
aren't a problem.  Some have much more in common with the original.
Linux is vulnerable to the original author having a shit fit if they
ever find out.  Most of the open source authors are amused when this
happens, so the odds are low a big deal would be made of it.  This
practice was wide-spread in the early 1990s, although things have
improved a lot.

However, without something like CVS and the legal assignment of
copyright (or formal acknowledgement of licensing under the GPL, which
is harder to defend), this will always be a problem with Linux.

The BSD projects are a little tigher about this, but still would be
vulnerable.

Warner